The 2015 MacBook combines the speaker and the antenna into a single part — the speaktenna. It’s just one of the many ways Cupertino shrank their newest laptop to unprecedented proportions.
There’s been a lot of talk about the 2015 MacBook’s obsession with space saving: the lack of ports, the brand new battery technology, the soldered RAM. But the Speakertenna hasn’t been noticed, until a recent profile of Apple VP Phil Schiller on Mashable. The article points to the combined part as a prime example of how closely departments within Apple work together.
“We ended up with a group of antenna engineers who know more about speakers than any other antenna engineers and a group of speaker engineers who knew more about antenna design than just about anyone else in the world,” said John Ternus, vice president of Mac and iPad engineering for Apple.
Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, gave a rare extended interview for the piece – and comments on a number of things in the article. Notably he spoke directly about Apple getting into the laptop/tablet hybrid market – put simply, Apple doesn’t see a lot of potential.
“Based on all the data that I’ve been able to see, it is still incredibly small and niche and may not be growing to anything significant, Schiller said. “Time will tell.”
Schiller mentions that Mac sales are rising in a market where other computer vendors are losing customers.
“The trajectory has been a market where the majority of PC vendors are not doing well; they’re shrinking and we’re growing,” Schiller said.
There was also a rare confession that Apple isn’t perfect.
“No, of course not, of course not,” said Schiller. “And we don’t want to sound like we’re perfect. We never are, we always have to get better and always have to listen to where we’re not doing well.”
Other topics discussed include Apple’s relationship with its supply chain, the architecture of Apple’s soon-to-be-completed new “Spaceship” campus, and how it feels to Schiller like Macs make up a big chunk of the market. You can read it here.
